From bikinis to maxi dresses, Grandmas to monkeys, we’re always adjusting to something
Independence Day had passed in 1946 when the real fireworks started on July 5. That’s the day when the newly designed Bikini Swimsuit was unveiled for the first time, revealing a scandalous amount of previously covered female anatomy.
For the first time (gasp* point* gasp again*), “the navel was revealed.” This provided astonishing illumination which had previously only been available in National Geographic magazine.
The minimalist suit was named for Bikini Atoll, where atomic bomb tests took place. There was a severe fabric shortage after the war and every half-ounce of material had to count. Those were the days of conflicting values when a lady in a bikini revealed her innermost secrets, but regulations forbade an Army officer in uniform from carrying a baby, a bag of groceries, or an umbrella.
I was only 12 and could have worn a flour sack. In fact, I did wear a flour sack a lot of the time.
Summer invariably meant a visit to my grandmother’s house, which was difficult even before my uncle brought her a monkey from somewhere in the South Pacific. Monkeys bite. Don’t try to be affectionate with a monkey is my advice.
There was no electricity or plumbing but there seemed to be a splendid variety of spiders and bats in the corners of the attic where I slept. The monkey slept with Grandma. Grandpa slept outside. It was very confusing.
Grandma, being incredibly old (about the age I am now), had a china vessel, decorated with hand painted chrysanthemums, under her bed so that she didn’t have to attempt the half block walk to the outhouse in the middle of the night. Since her bedroom wall was plastered with pictures of the saints, someone had to bring “Grandma’s Pot” into the living room so the saints didn’t have to see her homely occupation.
I was none too crazy about this job. I was none too crazy about my grandmother either, when you came down to it. I thought she smelled funny and I couldn’t understand her heavily accented English. She was given to singing loudly while hitting a tambourine with hip and elbow. Altogether, I thought she was the most embarrassing woman God ever put on this earth. I swear it never occurred to me to celebrate the fact that, after a long life of bringing 12 children into the world in a house with no electricity or running water, she was able to feel joy.
Like many things, I didn’t understand any of this until the world changed and my adult children began to report on their life lessons – or until I saw it in National Geographic. Whichever came first.
For instance, my Navy son wrote a quick, impartial and balanced critique of the movie, “Top Gun.“
“I didn’t plan to see, owing to the fact that I HATE Tom Cruise. However, a bunch of USS Abraham Lincoln alumni gathered up to see it, and I joined them,” he went on. “Most likely, my perception is colored by how much I can’t stand him, but on the up side, most of the last half hour was flown around Whidbey Island; the county’s most spectacular low level route was used as a stand in for an un-named-country-that-could-only-be-Iran-if-Russia-sold-them-their-latest-stealth-fighter-so-as-not-to-anger-China. And then they angered China anyway with a Taiwan flag patch.
“It was good to see my shipmates, anyway,” he wrote.
Shipmates turn out to be everywhere. While my son was visiting, an Amazon driver delivered a package to my porch. The driver was wearing a USS Abraham Lincoln cap.
“Hey, Shipmate,” #2 Son hailed him. Turned out the driver actually had been a shipmate and had a recording on his phone of my son’s voice making early morning announcements. I couldn’t believe it. “Well, mother, there are 5,000 people on that ship,” my son said.
The world turns out to be such a small place. The things that cause stress and anxiety in our lives are different than they once were and new ones turn up every day. Much of my stress these days comes from trouble with my personal hot spot. Of course, it’s encouraging for a lady of my age to have a personal hot spot, but now I have to pack up my computer and send it out into the void. It’s a wonder we ever adjust to anything.
But hang on. In the 1960s, after the Bikini craze, the maxi dress was invented which covered every inch from floor to ceiling, and everything in between. What’s new might even be something we’ll like.
Where to find Dorothy in July
9 a.m. July 3: Coffee Chat and Change the World. Register at www.nevertoolate.com
Swimming Upstream Radio Show
Go to https://swimmingupstreamradioshow.com
July 3: Diedri Webb on Legendary Black Heroes
July 10: Generation Gap: What’s ahead for graduates
July 17: Tacoma Boat Builders, from building boats to rebuilding lives.
July 24: That Justice Guy -- Justice Richard Guy
Contact Dorothy at 800-548-9264 or Dorothy@swimmingupstreamradioshow.com
